Stress and Your Health: From Vulnerability to Resilience presents an evidence-based evaluation of the various effects of stress, along with methods to alleviate distress and stress-related illnesses.

• Examines myriad stressor effects and proven ways to alleviate stress in our lives
• Covers a wide range of stressor-related topics including therapeutic strategies to deal with stress and factors that hinder treatment of stress
• Makes difficult biochemical and immunological concepts accessible to a non-specialist audience
• Addresses many of the factors that cause individuals to be more vulnerable to the impact of stressors and at increased risk for pathology

Hymie Anisman, a world-renowned expert in stress physiology, explains in clear, down-to-earth and often humorous language why Mom was right. Cold weather does not cause the common cold, but it can make the symptoms worse. Stress does not cause cancer, but it can affect the progression and efficacy of treatment. And, as Professor Anisman explains, the list of stress-associated maladies goes on and on. Informed, insightful, and up-to-date with the newest research findings. Required reading for patients and
scientists alike.

Keith W. Kelley, Professor Emeritus of Immunophysiology, University of Illinois

Stress is in many ways a defining psychological topic of our times, but it is fiendishly difficult to come to grips with. In Stress and Your Health Hymie Anisman shows not only why he is a leading researcher in the field but also why he is a great teacher. For it is impossible not to be impressed by the scope of the book and the breadth of its scholarship; while at the same time one is struck by the ease with which complex ideas are communicated and integrated. The result is a masterful text that works on a number of levels
and speaks powerfully to the range of audiences with an interest in this subject matter researchers, students and lay readers alike.

Alex Haslam, School of Psychology, University of Queensland

Although the management of certain types of stress is critical to our health, hardly anyone outside academia knows much about the nature of stress nor how to manage it. Hymie Anisman's book, Stress and Your Health: From Vulnerability to Resilience, provides a very readable solution. He has written a masterful description of complex biological and psychological processes that is accessible and written with his unique and wonderful sense of humor. It will be valuable both to the interested lay reader as well as serious students of behavioural neuroscience.

Bryan Kolb, Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge

The level of perceived stress is on the rise throughout the world, as is the burden of illness attributable to mental illness. There is a clear link between stress and mental illness; Dr. Anisman's book is not only timely but also very informative about how the body perceives and deals with daily stressors, and how one to cope with stress and its consequences. This delightful book falls in the must read category and will readily resonate with audience of diverse backgrounds.

Zul Merali, Ph.D., President & CEO, The University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research

Without question, stress is the leading contributor to psychological disorders worldwide. Responsible for myriad illnesses, stressful events are now associated with everything from depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to heart disease, diabetes, and even neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's. And due to the complexities of modern society, it is virtually certain that stress will become increasingly prevalent in all of our lives.

Stress and Your Health: From Vulnerability to Resilience offers readers an evidence-based evaluation of a wide range of stressor effects, along with proven methods to alleviate distress and stress-related illnesses. A wide range of stressor-related topics are addressed, including social psychological and biological components, stress-related pathologies, and various therapeutic strategies to deal with stress as well as the factors that often hinder treatments. Also covered are factors that cause individuals to be more vulnerable to the impact of stressors and at increased risk for pathology, along with elements such as genetic predisposition and various coping processes that engender resilience in some individuals even in the presence of severe stressors.

Written in a lively, jargon-free manner to make even the most difficult biological and immunological concepts accessible to a wide audience, Stress and Your Health: From Vulnerability to Resilience offers invaluable insights into ways to identify and alleviate one of the most insidious realities of modern life.

• Examines myriad stressor effects and proven ways to alleviate stress in our lives
• Covers a wide range of stressor-related topics including therapeutic strategies to deal with stress and factors that hinder treatment of stress
• Makes difficult biochemical and immunological concepts accessible to a non-specialist audience
• Addresses many of the factors that cause individuals to be more vulnerable to the impact of stressors and at increased risk for pathology

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xvi

1 Stressors, Stress, and Distress 1

What this book is about 1

What do we mean when we talk about stressors? 3

The characteristics of stressors: comparing apples, oranges, and lemons 5

Chronic stressors and allostatic overload 10

Before you go 11

2 Individual Differences in Relation to Stressors and Stress Responses 12

Vulnerability and resilience 13

Genetic influences 13

Age 17

Sex 18

Personality differences in relation to stress responses 18

Previous stressor experiences 19

Stress generation 19

Before you go 20

3 Appraising Stressful Events 21

Appraising stressors 22

Guidance through primary and secondary appraisals 22

Thinking fast and slow 22

Guideposts and anchors 25

Appraisals based on what others think 27

Appraisals in relation to learning, memory, automaticity, expectation, and habit 28

Positive and negative emotions 30

Gauging stressors 31

Before you go 33

4 Coping with Stressors 35

First responses to stressors 36

Coping methods 36

Personal growth and finding meaning 38

Social support 40

Loneliness 40

Unsupportive interactions 42

Social rejection 44

Forgiveness and trust 46

Empathy 48

Before you go 48

5 Hormones and What They Do 50

What's a hormone? 51

Linking hormones and behaviors 51

The hormonal stress response 54

Hormones of the autonomic nervous sy…